Atlanta, Ga. – Aidan Tran, Albert Hansson, Kale Fontenot and Hiroshi Tai all scored victories in tight matches, and delivered a 4-0 victory for No. 14 Georgia Tech over Ohio State in a semifinal match Tuesday at the East Lake Cup at East Lake Golf Club.
The Yellow Jackets earned a spot in Wednesday’s championship match against defending NCAA Champion Auburn, which will begin at 12:30 p.m. In a rematch of last spring’s NCAA Championship match won by Auburn, the 4th-ranked Tigers won the other semifinal match Tuesday, 3-1 over Florida State. The Buckeyes and Seminoles will meet in a consolation match beginning at 10:50 a.m.
Golf Channel and Peacock will have live coverage of the championship matches in both the men’s and women’s competition from 3-6 p.m.
Tran, a junior from Fresno, Calif., played the lead match for the Yellow Jackets against Joe Wilson IV and earned Tech’s first point on the final hole. Neither player led by more than one hole throughout, but Tran erased a one-hole deficit by carding back-to-back birdies at the 13th and 14th holes, and held on for the victory with a par at 18. Wilson lipped out a short par putt that would have sent the match to extra holes after Tran had gotten up-and-down from behind the green to save his par.
“It was a great match, a lot of holes won and lost back and forth,” said Tran. “I think we both hit the ball really well off the tee, so it was just a matter of who could hit it closer and make more putts. Overall, solid. I just happened to make one more putt than he did and that was the match.”
Almost simultaneously, Hanson, a freshman from Fiskebäckskil, Sweden, finished off the Buckeyes’ Topher Reed, 2&1, when Reed bogeyed the 17th hole. In Tech’s third match, Fontenot never trailed and came to the final hole 1-up on Vaughn Harber, and both players converted short birdie putts, giving the Yellow Jackets’ their clinching point.
“I think that was a huge factor (never trailing),” said Fontenot. “I was playing a young guy, not a lot of experience, and me on the other hand having a little bit of experience, so I think that helped out. Just hitting first on every tee shot, just getting the ball in play was just pretty big. We’re ready to play tomorrow, we’re going to bring it. Just real excited to do this on our home course.”
Tai, who held a three-hole lead against Tyler Sabo after 15, closed out his match at the 17th with a par for a 2&1 win, and Tech led 4-0.
In the anchor match,…
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